Flying boat base



April 30, 1946. AQGOUGE FLYING BOAT BASE 2 Shets-Sheet 'l Filed Feb. 14, 14945 A. GOUGE FLYING BOAT BASE April so, 1946.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 14, 1945 Patented Apr. 30, 1946 FLYING BOAT BASE l Arthur Gauge, London, England, assignor to Saunders-Roe Limited, East Cowes, England Application February 14, 1945, Serial No. 577,783 In Great Britain March-'31, 1944 7 Claims.

It is the present practice for flying boats to anchor in or near the fairway at some distance from the shore, so that passengers and cargo have to be taken to or from the flying boat by tender. The object of this invention is to provide a flying boat base, such that the'ying boat can be brought and berthed inshore, thus enabling the passengers to alight directly on, or embark directly from, the dock, and the cargo to be loaded or discharged by cranes on the dock.

The flying boat base according to the invention comprises a dock on the shore of a landing stretch of water, a breakwater located offshore from the dock, a pick-up cable or the like extending between the breakwater and the dock, the cable having stops at suitable spaced intervals to cooperate with a hook or like pick-up device mounted at or near the bow of the flying boat, and a winch or the equivalent for drawing in the cable to tow the engaged flying boat into the dock. Preferably a second winch or the like is provided on the breakwater for drawing in a tail cable for connection to the tail of the flying boat.

One specific example of flying boat base according to the invention will now be described in further detail by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan View of the base, partly in section,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the dock,

Fig. 3 is a section on an enlarged scale on line III--III in Fig. 2, and

Fig. 4 is a continuation to the left of Fig. 3.

The dock Il) has a number of bays II, each to receive a flying boat l2, these being shallow with a deeper central trough I3 for the reception of the hull of the flying boat which is drawn in with its nose towards the quay, the trough I3 extending at right angles to the quay. Similar troughs (not shown) may be provided, if desired, for the reception of the wing tip floats.

Extending between each bay of the dock and the breakwater I4, which is parallel to the quay, is a cable I5, the upper run of which (see Figs. 2 and 4) extends sufficiently below the surface of the water I6 in the channel between the breakwater and the quay to give clearance for the draught of the hull. and the lower run of which is near the bottom Il of the channel. At its inshore end the cable passes through an underground duct I8. constituting an inshore continuation of the hull-receiving trough I3 in the dock, to a winch I 9. At its offshore end the upper run of the cable extends out of the water and around a pulley 20 on a pylon 2| mounted on the breakwater I4.

Each pick-up cable has Stops 22 at fairly closely spaced intervals in its upper run. The flying boat, after landing on the water outside the breakwater, taxies into the channel and an automatic pick-up device is lowered from the bow to engage the cable.

An appropriate form of pick-up device consists of a draw bar adapted to be lowered beneath the flying boat when required for use, a hook pivoted near the end of the draw bar for engaging the cable, a catch for locking the hook to the draw bar, and a remote control mechanism operable from within the flying boat to free the catch and release the hook when it is desired to disengage it from the cable.

When the cable has been engaged by the hook it is drawn in by the winch I9, and one of the stops 22 on the cable will then pick up the hook and `so draw the flying boat into the trough I3 in the dock. v

The cables not required for use can be sunk in the channel, so as to ensure that the right one will be picked up.

In general it is desirable to draw the flying boat nose first into the dock as indicated at A in Fig. 1, where the wind is assumed to be blowing in the direction shown by the arrow a. A second cable 23 is then provided for connection to the tail of the flying boat, this being taken out from the breakwater by a dinghy. This tail cable 23 is attached to a donkey engine 24 which can travel 0n rails along the breakwater I4. By b1111- ing in the tail cable 23 by means of the donkey engine 24, the aircraft can be brought from position A into alignment with the main towing cable.

In some cases, however, it is not possible to draw the flying boat in nose first, as for example in the case shown at B in Fig. l., where the wind is blowing in the exceptionally adverse direction. indicated by the arrow b. In this case the ying boat must be drawn in tail rst. and a tail cable 25 is taken out from the dock by a dinghy. and hauled in by a winch 26 to bring the aircraft into alignment with the cable.

Each bay of the dock is roofed over, as shown at 21, to form a hangar, cranes (not shown) on the roof serving to land and discharge the cargo. Travelling gangways 23 running on wheels on the bottom of the shallow part of the dock can be run out laterally on their wheels from the sides of the dock to embark and disenibark the passengers. Sliding doors 29 are provided for closing the entry for eiecting repairs and maintenance which do v not necessitate the lifting of it out of the water and on to the service space.

Instead of providing a separate tail cable, the y flying boat can be swung round-into `alignment with the towing cable by establishing a. second connection with that cable fromlnside the boat. and swinging the aircraft round by means of a winch on the aircraft through the agency of said second connection.

What I claim as my inventionzand desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A flying boat base, comprising a dock on 'the shore of a landing stretch of water, said dock serving to berth a flying boat introduced nose rst therein, a breakwater located offshore from the dock, a pick-up cable extending between the dock and the breakwater, stops being provided on said cable at intervals to cooperate with a' pick-up device on the flying boat, and means for drawing in the cable to tow the engaged iiying boat into the dock, one of said stops constraining the pickup device to follow the cable when-drawn in.

2. A flying boat base, comprising a dock on the shore of a landing stretch of water, said `dock serving to berth a flying boat introduced nose first therein, a breakwater located offshore from the dock, an endless cable extending between the dock and the breakwater, withvits upper run sunk sufficiently below the surface of said landing stretch of water to give clearance for the draught of the iiying boat to be docked and its lower run near the bottom of the water, stops being provided at intervals on the upper run of said cable to cooperate with a pick-up device on the flying boat, and means for drawing in the cable to tow the engaged flying boat into the dock, one of said stops constraining the pick-up device to follow the cable when drawn in.

3. A flying boat base as claimed in claim 2, comprising a pylon on the breakwater, and a pulley on said pylon for supporting the upper run of the cable.

4. A iiying boat base, comprising a dock on the shore of a landing stretch of water, said dock having a plurality of bays each for vberthing a flying boat, a breakwater located offshore from the dock, a submerged pick-up cable extending between each bay of the dock and the breakwater, each cable having at intervals stops for cooperating with a pick-up device on the iiying boat, and awinch on the dock associated with each cable and operative to draw in said cable to tow an engagedying boat into the associated bay, one of the stops on the engaged cable constraining the pick-up device to follow the cable when drawn in.

5. A flying boat base, comprising a dock on the shore of a landing stretch of water, said dock having a plurality of bays each for berthing a flying boat, each bay being shallow and having a deepercentral trough to accommodate the hull of a iiying boat, a breakwater located oishore from the dock, a, submerged pick-up cable extending between each bay of the dock and the breakwater, each cable having at intervals stops for cooperating with a pick-up device on the nying boat, and a winch on the dock associated with each cable and operative to draw in said cable to tow an engaged flying boat into the associated bay, one of the stops on the engaged cable constraining the pick-up device to follow the cable when drawn in. .Y

6. A ying boat base as claimed in claim 4, comprising a winch movable along the length of the breakwater, and a tail cable connected to the winch and operative to draw the flying boat into alignment with the selected pick-up cable.

"7. A flying boat base as claimed in claim 4, comprising a further winch on the dock for drawing in a tail cable for connection to the tail of the flying boat when wind conditions necessitate the dying boat being towed tail rst into the dock.

ARTHUR GOUGE` 

